As any parent with young children will tell you, sleep is a great thing, ranking right up there with sex and eating. However, many people are not getting adequate amounts of sleep without even realizing it.

That is because many people suffer from sleep apnea, which is a condition where the airway collapses during sleep, leading to interruptions in sleep. In addition to lack of rest and the side effects of fatigue, sleep apnea can be dangerous to a person's health.

In fact, a new study has found that severe obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) raises the risk for heart failure in middle-aged and older men. For men who are 70 years of age, it can be a significant contributor to coronary heart disease.

The findings, published in the journal Circulation, are the first to demonstrate that OSA is indeed associated with a greater risk for heart failure. Men who had the most severe cases of OSA had a 58 percent higher risk for heart failure than men who did not suffer from OSA. When those men were between the ages of 40 and 70, their risk for heart disease was 68 percent higher.

Severe OSA was defined as having, on average, 30 or more interruptions in sleep during a one-hour period that result in oxygen depletion for 10 seconds or more. This situation can result in the blood oxygen levels dropping to the point that the body responds with a burst of adrenaline to shock the body awake. This rush of adrenaline spikes blood pressure, which can lead to vascular problems.

OSA is more common than people realize, affecting nearly 24 percent of the adult male population and 9 percent of the adult female population. Interestingly, the current study did not find any link between OSA in women and heart disease.

In the study in question, doctors monitored the health of over 1,900 men and nearly 2,500 women who were 40 years old or older and were free of heart problems. 24 percent of the men and 11 percent of the women had a certain level of OSA. The health of the subjects was monitored over the course of a median time of 8.7 years.

The authors note that one limitation of the study was the ages of the subjects. The reason for this is because the relationship between heart disease and OSA is most significant at a relatively young age, between the ages of 30 and 50 years. On the other hand, heart failure tends to be more prevalent in older people, and the diagnosis of OSA often occurs years after the condition begins, so the exact health consequences of the condition are difficult to quantify.

Nevertheless, the findings do point to a need to address the problem of OSA as a way to help find ways to treat it and as a consequence, help reduce the incidence of heart disease in the general population.

If you believe that you or someone you know is suffering from sleep apnea, talk to your doctor or visit the homepage for the American Sleep Apnea Association.